Lying hypocritical bigot edition

The film's subject matter obviously struck a cord with people from all walks of life -- after all, who hasn't felt abused or taken advantage of by someone in a position of authority over them? We've all met the film's antagonist, Mr. Franklin Hart Dabney Coleman in a masterful portrayal of comic villainy , in some form or another. One character sums up Hart perfectly when she calls him a "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.

Hart runs an entire floor in an office building, where he passes off much of his work to one of his long-suffering secretaries, Violet Newstead Lily Tomlin , while constantly making unwanted passes at another, Doralee Rhodes Dolly Parton acting for the first time, and providing the film's unforgettable title song. The movie opens with the hiring of another secretary, Jane Fonda effectively cast against type as the most timid of the bunch, the recently divorced Judy Bernly.

Another instantly recognizable villain is the obsequious office snitch named Roz Elizabeth Wilson. As sure as the sky is blue and water is wet, anything even slightly amiss seen or heard by Roz will be brought to Hart's attention within minutes. Violet, Judy and Doralee's commiseration about Hart leads to them becoming fast friends. Then, through some well-constructed comic contrivances, they'll eventually kidnap their hated boss and hold him hostage for weeks in his own house while his unsuspecting airhead of a wife is out of town.

And as luck would have it, Mr. Violet conjures up a scenario where she's Snow White with animated animal companions and poisons Frank's coffee. The next day, agitated and distracted, she accidentally puts rat poison into his coffee; when Frank is coincidentally taken to the hospital, she believes that she's killed him. This leads to some madcap capering as they steal the wrong body. Instead, he ends up being held hostage in his home while the ladies implement then-radical workplace changes like onsite day care, job-sharing and equal pay.

The reason 9 to 5 still works well is due to a smart satirical script that takes the time to set up the characters and situations so that when they pay off later it doesn't feel like a cheat. While some scenes feel a bit dated and slow in comparison to contemporary comedies, but that's just the way they were made back then.

The core truth that underlings resent being mistreated by their superiors is still alive, though such outrageous discrimination today would be responded to with vigorous legal action and not a wacky garage-door opener restraint system. Another thing that may be hard to recognize after so much time is how the cast was playing against type or were newer faces back then. By , Fonda still wasn't too far removed from her radical protester days, so it was a stretch to see her as a fragile person overwhelmed by the copy machine.

Tomlin had only made a few prior films, so her tart persona was fresh here, lending an acid edge to lines like "Thanks, Roz, I know just where to stick it," when offered a memo by the boss' chief brown-noser. Parton made her movie debut here, and she's simply adorable; she knocks out of the park the film's most well-known line, about what she'll do to Frank if she gets her gun. If anyone may have suffered career-wise from 9 to 5 it may've been Coleman, who is such an oily, sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot weasel that he pretty much played variations of Franklin Hart for years to come, including his short-lived TV series Buffalo Bill.

While there has been an effort to recast 9 to 5 as some sort of feminist manifesto and rallying point for women's rights, that obscures the basic fact that the reason it's still a beloved comedy is because it's funny with likeable heroines, a hissable villain and enough edge to make it more than just a trifle. It's hard to believe that not so long ago the engines of capitalism turned without the assistance of computers, e-mail and other modern "advancements" we now take for granted - like women in positions of corporate power.

We've all come a long way, baby. Score: 7 out of 10 The Video For a quarter-century-old film, the 1. Colors are clean albeit a tad muted due to the flat, overlit standard look of the times. A light grain gives a film-like patina to the image and little in the way of dirt or damage was noted.

A very nice job overall. While the resistance of the temptation to attempt a faux-surround audio track for marketing purposes is commendable, the presentation of the audio tracks is compressed and muddy sounding.

Mono audio can be piped out the center channel or the right and left front speakers, resulting in little difference between the mono and "stereo" options.

Dialogue is clear and there wasn't any hiss or distortion noted, but it certainly sounds primitive. Score: 5 out of 10 Packaging and Extras The disc comes in the standard keep case without an insert. The feature commentary with producer Bruce Gilbert and Fonda, Tomlin and Parton is not recommended for people who don't like laughter on their commentary tracks for they are constantly amused by what's going on.

While it starts off bubbling with tidbits, like Parton is currently working on a musical version of the film, they start just watching the movie and laughing at their jokes for long stretches. It gets very annoying after a while, like the pot party scene where too much laughter is a bad thing.

Nine Revisiting a Comedy Classic has new interviews with all the main cast members covering the development and casting of the film. While a few comments try to pump up its significance as a feminist landmark pass by, they aren't heavy-handed.